The senior Republicans on the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees rejected the Palestinian Authority’s bid for membership in the United Nations on Tuesday, calling the proposal “dangerous.”
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated that the move undermines the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
“The P.A.’s request for full membership at the U.N. endangers international security,” the two stated.
The Palestinian Authority “has not made substantive reforms, continues to implement pay-for-slay and there is no negotiated solution between the P.A. and Israel,” they added. “This is not a serious attempt to find a peaceful, lasting solution to the conflict; it is an opportunistic, politically-motivated move to bypass the peace process.”
The Palestinian Authority’s U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour, officially a “permanent observer,” asked the U.N. Security Council last week to hold a vote later this month on granting full U.N. membership to “Palestine.” The authority currently holds U.N. observer status.
The Biden administration has signaled that it would be willing to veto any request for Palestinian membership in the United Nations prior to the completion of final-status negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
McCaul and Risch reminded the Biden administration on Tuesday of the consequences if the Palestinian Authority was admitted to the global body.
“U.S. law requires the United States to cut off all funding to the U.N. if the U.N. admits Palestine as a member state,” the Republicans said. “Anything other than staunch opposition to this ploy from the Biden administration is political pandering.”
